Millionaire outsider forces runoff in Houston mayor race

Millionaire outsider forces runoff in Houston mayor race | iNFOnews.ca
In this Sept. 2, 2019 photo, Mayor Sylvester Turner speaks as Tony Buzbee, left, listens during a mayoral candidate forum for the 2019 election in Houston. As Turner seeks a second term, he’s hoping to use residents’ antipathy toward President Donald Trump to help him beat Turner, his biggest challenger. Crimes rates, allegations of City Hall corruption and the pace of the city’s recovery after Hurricane Harvey are among the issues that have come up in the race. (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle via AP)

HOUSTON – A millionaire lawyer in Houston who once supported President Donald Trump has narrowly forced a runoff election for mayor in Texas’ biggest city.

Tony Buzbee on Tuesday night denied Mayor Sylvester Turner the outright victory needed to cinch a second term. Turner led a crowd field of 12 candidates but fell just short of getting more than 50% of the vote.

Buzbee and Turner now head to a runoff election that will extend an increasingly bitter race in Houston, a Democratic stronghold where Trump is deeply unpopular.

Buzbee has rejected partisan labels and has donated to both Republicans and Democrats. But Turner has run ads reminding voters that Buzbee hosted a fundraiser for Trump and donated $500,000 to the president’s inauguration committee.

Buzbee poured more than $10 million into his outsider bid and ran on promises to weed out corruption at City Hall.

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